


Warm Beginnings

by Steamed_Tets



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, OtH!AU by @doodledrawsthings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:00:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24252460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Steamed_Tets/pseuds/Steamed_Tets
Summary: What did you miss most?
Comments: 5
Kudos: 79





	Warm Beginnings

This sucked. Everything about this whole situation sucked. And according to the hat-wearing wonder Snatcher had nobody to blame but himself. At least that was her own personal opinion he assumed, it’s not like he tried to break the Time Piece on purpose. He knew how valuable they were after all! Besides! Time Pieces were only meant to skip back short periods of time!  _ Not several centuries! _ Being stuck in his old body all over again was an entire can of worms that Snatcher had wanted nothing to do with. Once the initial shock and irritation had passed Hat Kid insisted they both return to her ship so she could investigate the Time Piece and attempt to start repairs on it. Snatcher however was not enjoying all the sensations that came with being human again after so long. The smells, the sounds, the breathing, not to mention the feelings both physical and emotional. It all sucked in Snatcher’s professional opinion and he wanted this situation remedied as soon as possible. 

But there was nothing he could do, it was all in the kid’s hands now. Instead, he was left to rest on the enormous mountain of pillows in the bedroom with Bow Kid to keep him company and to make sure he didn’t accidentally hurt himself dealing with the sensations of being alive again. Minutes ticked by slowly, feeling like multiple hours to the former ghost. 

Bow Kid stood up, brushing her dress off, “I’m going to go see how Hat’s doing with the Time Piece.,” She used her thumb to point to the door out of the bedroom behind her, “Will you be okay in here alone for ten minutes?” 

Snatcher rolled his eyes, “Kid I’m three hundred years old! I think I’ll be okay for ten minutes.” He crossed his arms. 

“Right.” She answered before turning and heading out the door. 

As the dual-sliding doors closed Snatcher almost winced. He knew deep down that the space kids just wanted to help, but could they really blame him being so angry and frustrated? He thought not! Still, he did feel just the tiniest bit guilty for the way he was acting. Stupid human body making him experience emotions all over again. Grumbling and groaning to himself wouldn’t do him any good he supposed, he only hoped the hat brat could fix the Time Piece and get him out of this situation. For more reasons than one. Not only did being human again after being a powerful entity for three centuries suck, but he needed his powers back. So he could keep  _ her _ back. 

Before he could even begin to let his mind fall down that terrifying rabbit hole the bedroom door slid open again with a whoosh signaling that at least one of the space kids was back. Snatcher sat up with a jolt and with it a series of pains all over his body that he was still getting readjusted to. He groaned in pain as both the space kids made their way over to the bottom of the sea of pillows. 

“Well?” Snatcher began, rubbing his back, “Is the Time Piece fixed or what?” 

The duo looked at each other, Bow in worry, and Hat in more annoyance than anything. The silence spoke volumes and only served to heighten Snatcher’s hidden anxiety. 

“Like I said earlier,” Hat started, “You broke the Time Piece like super badly. I’ve never seen one shatter quite like this before. It’s completely shot, not to mention after working on it for well over an hour I’m starting to think that something is wrong with it.” Hat kid sighed, rubbing her temple. 

Snatcher looked between the two of them, he didn’t like where this was going. 

Bow stepped ahead towards the pile, “What Hat is trying to say is we don’t know what’s wrong with it or how to fix it right now. And that, unfortunately, means that, for the time being, you’re stuck like this until we can figure out a solution.” 

He wanted to scream, he wanted to lash out in anger, wanted to burn the entire ship to the ground. He wanted to shatter the windows and rips the pillows to shreds. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t do any of that. He knew, deep down under all of his rage, that the two space brats just wanted to help, and having an enraged ex-prince on their hands wouldn’t help. Even worse if he had been able to do all of those things it would make him no better than she was, and he knew he was better than that. With heavy breathing in an attempt to calm himself down, another thought occurred to him. Being stuck like this meant no powers and no powers meant that Subcon might be at risk. 

“I need to talk to Moonjumper. Right now.” 

The space kids turned to each other and nodded, Bow taking off out of the bedroom once again and Hat walking up to the pillow pile. 

“What do you want Moonjumper for?” She asked.

“If I’ve got no powers Subcon might be at risk, especially if she finds out I’m not there to guard it. Moonjumper isn’t as strong as me, but he can hold her off if she even thinks about trying it.” He growled, falling back into the mass of pillows. 

Hat waited a few minutes before climbing the mountain and grabbing Snatcher’s hand, “C’mon, Bow will be back with Moonjumper before too long. We’ll wait for them in the command center.” 

Though against his better judgment, Snatcher let Hat kid take his hand and drag him down to the slide buried beneath the mass of pillows to slide into the command center. Seeing Moonjumper was not on his list of top things to do today, what with them still being on sort of rocky terms (Snatcher was working to be better he promised) but Subcon needed a guardian and Snatcher couldn’t very well do it looking like this with no powers now could he? 

Twenty minutes passed before the siren for an approaching transport came in. Hat kid and Snatcher jumped to their feet as a beam of light appeared in the middle of the room. 

“Alright Snatcher, I’m here. What on earth is so important that I had to come all the...way...here……..” Moonjumper’s voice trailed off as he realized just who and what was standing in front of him. The Horizon based spirit stuttered to even find the words to speak. Waving his arms in confusion and face contorting in an attempt to make sense of it all. “I need a minute.” 

Bow kid stepped away, “I’ll get you a chair.” 

“We’ll leave you two alone to talk this out, I’ll be in the basement looking over the Time Piece again if anyone needs me,” Hat added, turning quickly with a flip of her cape and disappearing through one of the doors.

Once Bow had brought the chair Moonjumper sat down, “If you two need me I’ll be in the bedroom reading. Take all the time you need.” She added with a wave before taking off. 

An awkward silence filled the air as the two of them failed to meet each other’s eye, Moonjumper sighed. “So what do you want from me?” 

Snatcher rubbed his arms nervously, “I need you to watch over Subcon until Hat gets the Time Piece working again and I can get back to my old self. You never know when she could lose it again and well, with no powers and a pathetic human body to be trapped in there’s nothing I can do. I can’t trust anyone else with this task Moonjumper, it has to be you.” 

Moonjumper looked to the floor, “What makes you think I’m capable of that? I’ve been hiding in the same clearing in Subcon for over a century after escaping the Horizon. Up until recently, you hated my guts, I’m pretty sure you still do. Tell me, Snatcher, what exactly makes you believe that I can hold back the worst thing that ever happened to either of us?” His voice raised to a shout and cracked at the final line. 

Snatcher winced, he knew he had been horrible to Moonjumper in the past. Beyond horrible. But he had no other choice. He knew Moonjumper could hold her back, he’d shown that when he nearly destroyed the clearing before. “Moonjumper you’re one of three incredibly powerful beings in Subcon, you practically almost destroyed your own clearing. I know you can do this. Subcon needs you. I need you.” 

Moonjumper sighed, “Does Hat know how long it will take?” 

Snatcher shook his head, “She made it seem like it could be weeks. I don’t know how long it will be and I hate that.” 

“I’ll do it.”

Snatcher looked up quickly, “Really?!”

Moonjumper got up from his chair and nodded, “Yeah. I’ll do it. I want Subcon to be safe, and if there’s anything I can do to help you or the forest, then I want to do it!” He said, gripping his fists in determination. 

Snatcher couldn’t help himself and hugged the other spirit, “Thank you Moonjumper. I’m sorry about all of this. You’re the only one I can trust to protect the forest from her.” 

Moonjumper nodded, “I understand. I’ll keep Subcon in tip-top shape you’ll see! I’ll prove it to you!” He glanced around quickly, “Can you tell Bow that I’m ready to go, please? I don’t actually know how to get off.” 

“Oh, oh! Right. I’ll go get her. And th-thank you again.” Snatcher waved and dashed off as fast as he could to the bedroom. He sighed once he was through the door and in the hallway.  _ Well, that sucked _ , he thought to himself.  _ At least he agreed to do it. Mental note; when this is over, try to be nicer to Moonjumper. _

The door to the bedroom slid open and Snatcher crawled out, brushing off his royal regalia as he did and frowning at it in disgust. Bow kid sat up from laying down on the bed abruptly. “How did it go?” She asked.

“He said he’ll do it. He also said he’s ready to go whenever you’re ready.” Snatcher said, crawling onto the pile of pillows and letting himself sink into them. After a minute he heard movement and then felt a gentle pat on his back before the pillows shifted and Bow took a dive below to use the slide. He rolled over to stare at the ceiling.  _ This whole situation sucks, but at least Subcon will be safe. Moonumper can keep her back, I know he can _ . The thought was almost enough to put his nerves to rest. Almost. He was still stuck like this and would be for a while. He had a lot to get used to he supposed. 

Before he knew it, he drifted off to sleep. 

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
When he awoke again all the lights were out. It must be night time he assumed. The next thing he noticed was the warmth surrounding him. It felt really nice he had to admit. That was something he had missed once he had first, well it didn’t matter. The point is he used to miss it a lot. Being a ghost meant that a lot of the sensations that came with being alive no longer applied to you, and although he hadn’t thought about it in well over a century, being warm again felt nice. He finally looked down to figure out what had caused the feeling only to find the space kids snuggled against him. Though the tiniest bit irritated that they thought they could use him as a pillow and get away with it, it felt nice. To still be relied on despite being powerless, the warmth wasn’t bad either. He closed his eyes and settled down again,  _ maybe this wouldn’t entirely be such a terrible experience after all.  _

**Author's Note:**

> This is like super rushed in some parts I think, but all the same, I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
